Liberal Party of Canada leader Justin Trudeau, on a week-long tour of B.C., stopped in Vancouver to meet party faithful at English Bay beach Thursday, June 25, 2013. Standing right is Vancouver-Centre MP Hedy Fry.

Photograph by: Jason Payne
, PNG

VANCOUVER — At the end of his five-day B.C. tour, federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau spoke out about a well-worn topic in the province: marijuana legislation.

Following unprompted remarks in Kelowna Wednesday on the legalization of marijuana, Trudeau told supporters and volunteers on Thursday in Vancouver his thinking had “evolved” when it comes to pot laws.

Decriminalization is “a great first step” to remove the criminal penalties now associated with pot possession and sales, but only legalization and regulation would keep it out of the hands of children, he said.

“In many cases, it’s more difficult for young people to get their hands on cigarettes than it is to get their hands on weed,” he told a crush of reporters and onlookers at English Bay near Sunset Beach.

“Once we regulate it, and require ID to be shown before anyone can buy it for proof of age, we actually are putting a better control on it. Nobody can argue the current approach on drugs is working. We have to look at something else. I think following (some of the American states’) lead in terms of looking at legalization is a big solution.”

Marijuana should not be a major election issue in the next election and the environment and economy should take precedence, Trudeau said. He took a jab at the Conservatives, who, he said “base their approach on ideology and fear. I prefer to base my approach on evidence and best practices and I think that’s what Canadians will respond to.”

“Marijuana is not a health food supplement. It’s not great for you. But it’s certainly — as many studies have shown — not worse for you than cigarettes or alcohol.”

“The fact that one of Justin Trudeau’s first policy priorities is legalizing marijuana demonstrates once again that he does not have the judgment to be Prime Minister,” said a statement on the party’s website.

“These drugs are illegal because of the harmful effect they have on users and on society. We will continue protecting the interests of families across this country,” it said, citing RCMP and police sources.

Also in attendance Thursday was Vancouver-Quadra MP Joyce Murray, Trudeau’s one-time rival for the leadership, who said during that campaign she would tax and regulate marijuana as well.

Trudeau and his family had spent the week travelling through the Interior and Okanagan, covering 10 cities in five days.

He also spoke on a range of topics, including pipelines (against Northern Gateway, for Keystone and “open to” Kinder Morgan) and criticized the Russian government’s passage of a law allowing foreign nationals and tourists suspected of being gay or “pro-gay” to be arrested, just six months ahead of the Sochi Olympic Games.

Trudeau was given a celebrity’s welcome, posing for photos and meeting self-described fans. One woman, Cora Alcuitas, said she was a Trudeaumaniac back in the 1960s and remained one today, and came out just for the photo-op.

Her husband Ted, a longtime Liberal party supporter who runs a Philippine newspaper in Vancouver, said he wasn’t sure if he agreed marijuana should be taxed and sold legally, but “sometimes in politics you need to ruffle a few feathers.”

“He’s young. I want a young mind to energize the party.”

Trudeau’s maternal grandfather, James Sinclair, was a former federal fisheries minister and longtime Liberal MP who represented North Vancouver in the 1940s and ‘50s.

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Liberal Party of Canada leader Justin Trudeau, on a week-long tour of B.C., stopped in Vancouver to meet party faithful at English Bay beach Thursday, June 25, 2013. Standing right is Vancouver-Centre MP Hedy Fry.

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